Description

After years of development, Hutchinson has finally introduced their Secteur Tubeless Tire. Essentially the wider version of their popular Intensive model, this is the fully evolved version of a prototype tire spotted under FDJ riders at Paris-Roubaix, a couple of seasons back. It's an ideal option for cobbles, gravel, and distance rides where comfort is paramount but speed is still a top priority.

Road Tubeless has held strong since its introduction by allowing riders to run lower pressure without pinch flats for a more comfortable, grippy, and conforming ride feel. The Secteur uses a thermoplastic reinforced compound that extends wear life considerably without sacrificing grip. Hardskin layer prevents punctures and sidewall cuts.

I had two of these now - the first one held 6000km (sidewall puncture - not the tires' fault) and the second one made it 7200km (all the way down to the fabric). These tires are well worth their money and wear really well. Right now I am trying out a Schwalbe One and can't tell a difference in handling and feel between the two brands. The Hutchinson went on my Enve's easier, but the Schwalbe held pressure immediately, while the Sector needed a few rides to seal.

A durable, speedy tire for tarmac & gravel - only a roofing nail punctured it

I've been riding the Sector tires on a Stans Grail wheelset, with excellent results, on both tarmac and gravel. This is not a heavy-duty tire, but I've only experienced 1 flat, from big, fat, roofing nail that jammed into tire, on a filthy & wet road.

I was able to successfully patch the inside of the puncture area, once home, with a regular bike tube patch. Don't buff the puncture area. Instead, scrupulously clean the inner area to be patched with automotive brake clean or acetone, before applying the glue.

Not surprisingly, the Sector's rolling resistance feels higher than a full-chat racing tire, such as the 25c Continental 4000S, but the Sector's speed is certainly quite good for a 28c tire. Great traction, on wet, cold, tarmac, and surprisingly good on gravel, as well. Both tires were under 290 grams, on my scale.

I've used pressures ranging from 55-80 psi, depending on terrain, with no problems. Typically, I run 70-75 psi, which seems a good compromise between comfort and rolling resistance.

In the last month I've done a Gran Fondo (105 miles) and the BWR - San Diego (135 miles, 30 on dirt), plus commuting every day and a ton of training rides in between, all on my cross bike on these tires. In particular the performance of these tires on the BWR, where we were on some of the rankest dirt roads, rocky MTB trails, climbing ridiculous hills (like 26%), sand, gravel, you name it - nary a cut or flat, I was passing people on descents (coasting), had surprising traction on the loose stuff, AND these tires are still looking new. That was 900 miles in a month. I'm running them tubeless with the Hutchinson sealant. The rear tire loses a couple psi a day, the front maybe 10, too lazy to stick in more sealant.

The ride of these tires...it's a dream when you dial in the right pressure (I'm running 82psi, weigh 180lbs). They allow me to descend on the road with great speed and confidence. These are the best feeling tires I've ever ridden and I've raced and trained on many many brands/types. And contrary to folks who say the tire is slow - when inflated to the right pressure, I'm MEASURING 1-2 mph faster on the same exact descents as my other fast tires. My normal racing tire is the Schwalbe ZX, it is the fastest, just barely, but a much harsher ride than the Sector.

Between the reliability and ride comfort, the performance and low rolling resistance, AND the low weight, it's hard to imagine another tire displacing this one as my go to tire for the road.

This tire wins my best of category for tubeless tires. Although a bit pricey, it has superior wear and durability (I get somewhere around 3,000 mile on a tire). It also resists cuts better than other competitive tubeless tires. If you're looking for a solid, long-lasting tubeless tire that is well made and will give you miles of trouble-free riding, this is the one.

Bought a new bike and decided to go tubeless since I upgraded to tubeless rims(HED Ardennes Plus SL Disc Clincher Wheelset ShimanoSRAM). I did a lot of research and decided on these tires. These tires seem to wear faster than the standard Conti Gaterskins I've used. With about 600 miles the front picked up glass and punctured in two spots. Sealer came spraying out but sealed with about 35lbs of pressure left. That was kind of impressive. I decided to ride home(20miles) on that tire pressure to see how they held up. They held up and after filling back to 95lbs they seem to be holding air just fine.

Now to the cons about going tubeless, on road bikes. Be prepared to spent a lot more for rims, tires, and maintenance. Rims need to be taped properly to be seal. Shops will charge on average $XX a rim to this. I had to go through this twice which ended up costing $XXX to get the rims right. A long story and frustration. Then you have the sealer to mess with, different valve stems, and finally the tires. I would say it cost an extra $XXX to go tubeless. Bottom line this technology is not ready for prime time. Just not worth the hassle and money to get a little lighter and smother ride. And I question how much lighter they end up being after double taping the rims and adding sealer. (be aware HED rims need to be double taped and they only include enough tape to wrap once when you purchase through TiresDirect, this cost an extra $XX, part of the long story).

Love the ride quality and general toughness on rough roads and firebreaks, but have had two in a row get a puncture that sealed on the outside but then let air get between an inner layer of rubber and the tread, resulting in tire deformities that made them unridable.

We have these tires on (3) CX bikes that have seen thousands of miles each on the Amish country gravel roads of central Ohio over the last two years. The tires easily mounted to Bontrager tubeless road rims, Easton tubeless mountain bike rims, and Shimano tubeless mountain bike rims. We were really excited to see that they sealed easily on regular tubeless mountain bike rims preventing us from having to buy road or CX specific tubeless rims.

All three bikes are running the tires tubeless with 2 ounces of sealant and none have experienced any leaks or flats over the last two years.

I have well over 2 K miles on my original ones, and have found them to hold air fine, roll fast, corner like crazy and be super comfy. You might have noticed that I did say my original ones, as mine also showed some separation between the sidewall and the main tread. I emailed a pic to Hutchinson to inquire about this, and they sent two new ones, immediately - no hassle what so ever. Some of the best customer service I have ever had. I originally put them on in the early spring when I thought that I would encounter more junk on the roads, but I loved them so much, that I left them on all season long, including a couple of races.

The tires ride nice and biketiresdirect.com sold it at a good price, but they are narrower than expected. I can't remember if I bought 700 x 30mm or 700 x 35mm, but in any case, they appear to be no wider than my 700 x 28mm Conti Gatorskins! I've ridden 150 miles on them so far and they feel grippy. I'm using them on my Co-Motion Carrera tandembike and running them at 60 psi front, 70 psi rear.

I currently have these on my cyclocross bike, which I use for road/dirt/gravel road riding, occassional singletrack, and commuting (25 miles of my commute is on a gravel towpath). These are the first tubeless road tires I've used. They're mounted on a Stan's Grail Team wheelset, and the combination works great. They're fairly light and flats are a thing of the past. They're fast on pavement, and great on hard-packed dirt and gravel roads. I've even done some fairly technical singletrack with them without trouble. Their Achilles Heel seems to reveal itself in deeper sections of crushed stone, particularly climbing through it. The traction just isn't there to get you uphill through loose stone. Having said that, there's only been one instance of this that forced me off the bike, so it's an exception - not the rule - in my experience.

Re losing air? I've had no such problems using Stan's sealant. Follow the install instructions, use the right amount of sealant, and they're fine (at least on my wheels). Slow bleed occurs, just as it does with tubes, so I top them off before each ride - but it's certainly not excessive.

The one big issue I've had was 'splitting' of the sidewall along the circumference of the tires (on both sides) between the rim and where the text is printed on the tire. This happened with 300 miles on the set. They still hold air, but I don't think this is typical - especially since there seems to be casing threads unraveling parallel to the rim. I sent a photo to Hutchinson's warranty department, and they've been great. Very prompt attention and they're sending me replacements w no hassle whatsoever. Just wanted to put it out there as something to keep an eye on.

Overall, I'm really pleased with these. Sure, I'm bummed about the sidewall issue - but can't complain at all about the service I've received. Hopefully, the replacements won't have the same issue.

BikeTiresDirect.com Comments

Joe
Thanks for filling us in on your experience with the Secteur tires! It sounds like the issue you had was a manufacturing defect, and it is good to hear that Hutchinson helped get you rolling again with minimal inconvenience. Tubeless road tires are still in their infancy, and any and all feedback, mostly positive in this case, is appreciated!
Derek

Positives Great ride, good cornering, light, easy to mount, hold air pretty well for tubeless.

Negatives Relatively expensive. Not very puncture resistant, and punctures do not seal, at least when used with Stan's sealant. This is probably a coincidence, but after months without a puncture riding Continentals, I switched to these tires, and had 2 punctures in about 3 weeks.

Punctures will happen when you ride a lot of miles, irrespective of the tire, so this tire still gets a sold 3.5 stars from me. I'm going to switch to the Hutchinson sealant when I run out of Stan's, to see if that makes a difference in the ability to seal on the fly.

These are a very durable and comfortable tire. I have run it both tubeless and with no issues. In the PNW we have a bunch of Kermesse races (mixed gravel and pavement) that are notorious for eating tires. Ran these at three different events with no flats.

I've now got several thousand miles on these. Mounted on 25mm OD rims they fit snug and seat in easily. They seem to be a bit porous and require some TLC to get sealant to fully coat and seal the interior, but once done they hold air well. I use tubeless on our tandem at 90 psi under our 350, and at 75psi under my 160 on the single. Great for rough conditions like broken pavement and gravel and dirt as long as there is a hard surface underneath, but deep sand or softer ground demand more tire. Quite the plush ride on smooth roads. Excellent wear and durability, no punctures yet on three wheelsets in six months.

Slow! One still won't hold air regardless of if on front v. back rim. Did I mention it's slow!

Difficult to set up compared to other Hutchinson tubeless or other tubeless tires used. Incredibly slow tire. Ended up putting these on my commuter. Originally purchased for gravel/dirt road riding in Northern Colorado and a couple of early spring races that feature some dirt/gravel but these do not handle any better than a Grand Prix 4000s on the dirt/gravel so I will definitely not race w them.

Purchased a set to ride Cycle Oregon XXVI in southeastern Oregon where the route included lots of of heavy chip seal and some gravel roads. The tire met my high expectations in all respects. The 28mm tire barely fit under the fork on my Moots road bike and looks a bit like a balloon tire but I detected no negative aspects versus the 23MM and 25mm tires I typically use on that bike. The only down side from my perspective is the loss of tire pressure - these tended to lose about between 5 and 10 lbs over a 24 hour period.

I think the other reviewer probably didn't install his tire properly. I ran these on a converted carbon clincher (Reynolds R2). They performed flawlessly and lasted as long as any other tubeless tire I've ridden. Although lighter... they do roll a tab slower than the Fusion 3 tubeless tires, but it's barely noticeable. Ride comfort is also improved over the Fusion 3s however, so it depends on what you want. I think this makes an excellent training or all conditions type of tire. If you race you may do better with a 23mm or even 25mm wide tire. But if you just want a smooth ride I'd go for this one. My only knock... the Secteur is a little on the pricy side.

I have put 450 miles on these tires. No signs of wear. Recommended (for my weight) 100psi, next day at about 85 psi. I have had no problems with the tires. I use them on a Trek Cronus, Cyclocross bike, for commuting and long training rides. I have ridden through masses of glass, over metal and wood in the dark without any problems. When I see crap on the road I laugh as I ride through it.They seem to have a fair amount of rolling resistance compared to my other bike tires, but hard to compare (Conti 4000S 23mm on a Trek Madone) the two setups. A bit pricy it may seem, but the have no signs of wear as of yet. Did very well in a heavy rain storm ride.

They have been very reliable in the short time I have had them. My first tubeless road tires and I love having no flats.

These seat in easily and seem appropriate on my 25mm wide rims. No problem inflating, but I have a compressor. Like the other reviewer, I found they lost air quickly, that is until I took the time to refill with another ounce more Stan's a second time. It seems they took a while to really seal up, but now they hold air for many days straight.

These tires are what I was dreaming of for a long time- pretty light, durable in rough conditions, and the sweet, plush ride of tubeless. Really comfortable under my 165 at 70fr 75rr psi. Great on hard packed dirt and gravel, and I don't feel slow at all.

These will not wear like the Intensives, I can see the tread wear after 600 miles, but I beat them through some brutal conditions and have had no flats so far.

I have used Hutchinson tubeless road tires for 3 years. I eagerly awaited the availability of the Secteurs. However, I am very disappointed. They don't hold air, deflating completely overnight. They lose so much air, despite the use of sealant, that I don't think you could complete a ride over 2 hours unless you stopped to re-inflate. Hutchinson has been completely unresponsive to my inquires.

BikeTiresDirect.com Comments

We're here to help, too, so please feel free to contact us if Hutchinson isn't available. Some rims are particularly challenging to use without tubes, but generally we've had good luck with Hutchinsons sealing.